About to Pop: Innerpartysystem

September 4, 2008

Who: Innerpartysystem
Album: ‘Innerpartysystem’
Video: ‘Don’t Stop
Hails From: Mohnton, Penn.
For Fans Of: The Killers and Nine Inch Nails

Why They’re About to Pop: With Innerpartysystem — named for the class hierarchy in George Orwell’s ‘1984′ — singer Patrick Nissley and drummer Jared Piccone grew their electro-rock outfit from the ashes of their previous band Thirteen Over Eight. Adding keyboardist Kris Barman and guitarist Jesse Cronan, the band was signed to the Stolen Transmission label, which released the group’s ‘The Download EP’ in 2007, before eventually folding into the Island Records roster. Innerpartysystem’s self-titled full-length will hit shelves on September 9, and the band is out on tour through August 30 before playing at New Orleans’ Voodoo Music Experience on October 25.

What inspired the songs on your record?

Life, really. What inspires any record? We all live together in a small town in Pennsylvania where we grew up. A lot of the songs are rooted in that — the kind of anxiety you feel when you get out of high school or college and need to transition into the real world. Most people [who live] where we’re from are married with children by 22 or 23. I think a lot of the country is like that outside of the major cities. The four of us came together because we knew that wasn’t for us. There are of course a lot of other influences and inspirations; relationships, struggles with religion and identity, and of course all the changes our lives have been going through as we’ve started doing this full time.

What’s your favorite song on the record?

It varies. Right now I love the track ‘New Poetry.’ It’s slower, not as raging as ‘Don’t Stop,’ but I really love that song.

What did you think life as a musician would be like when you first started out and how does it compare to what it’s really like for you now?

We got into this knowing what we were in for. With all the reality TV on now, there are no children left sitting at home thinking that being in a band is all drug-fueled orgies. We’ve all been in small local bands. We knew we’d be sucking s— in a van, living out of backpacks for a few years, and we’re all down for it. I get to play drums each night. That’s all I’ve ever really wanted. It gets stressful — like when you get off the plane from the UK tired, and hop right in the van to drive cross-country for your first gig on a tour — but at the same time, we’re getting to do the things we’ve always dreamed about. Two days ago, we played Lollapalooza. Last month we got to open in stadiums in the UK on Projekt Revolution and spend our nights in underground dance clubs in the UK. If you would have told me that’s what we’d be doing a year and a half ago when this all started I would have laughed at you. I might have been wearing the same clothes for the past three days, our van might smell like feet and dudestench, but we’re doing exactly what we want to be doing.

Buy ‘Don’t Stop EP’ on iTunes